Some time ago, I divorced music. It might be hard for my friends and family to understand this, especially in light of the fact that I used to play, write, and sing music. Music is such an integral part of life; it's woven into our days and our memories. And there was the problem. Music, like the sense of smell, has the power to transport us back in time to a particular moment and enable us to re-experience not just the memory of the time, but also the associated feelings. Music is very pow...

The upcoming novel by Wodke Hawkinson

Dear Readers,

For those of you who have been (im)patiently waiting for our next novel, the waiting time is nearing an end. We actually started the novel (???) before we wrote Betrayed, Betrayed Alternate-Ending, and Blue, but we were taking it in a different direction than where it is going today. Let me explain why this novel is taking us so very long to finish.

You see, there’s something about our main character that tends to make us want to ignore...

Gabino Iglesias of the Austin Post said, “Vigilare walks the line between a thriller and a supernatural adventure while safely anchored in a scientific discourse around blood that James put together so well that it's reminisce...

I’m going to tell you something I don’t often repeat. 

I love nightmares. 

Oh, a dream about swimming in a lagoon by a tropical island has its place, but rarely do those dreams stay with me. Like an orgasm, the moment is wonderful, yet fleeting. 

All my life, I’ve had nightmares. I’m sure you’ve had your share, too. The difference with me is, at a very young age, I made peace with those nighttime visions of terror. As soon as I learned to embrace them, to dissect the patterns of...

I may have unknowingly created a new literary genre. But don’t take my word for it. Read on and let me know if you think that is the case.

It all started when I saw a picture of a “sun zebra.” Unfortunately I can’t tell you what a “sun zebra” is without spoiling the title story of my book. Then, after I saw this animal, a little girl named Nell wandered out of my mind and went to tell her dad she had found a “zebra.” Since the story takes place in a farm in the middle of Pen...

by Brooklyn James (Author of The Boots My Mother Gave Me, An Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Quarter Finalist)

I enjoyed reading Robert French’s guest blog about depression and its correlation to writing. His blog got me thinking about my own relationship with writing.

The completion of my first novel, The Boots My Mother Gave Me, was a New Year’s resolution. I had no intentions of completing a book. The coming of age Dysfiction is about a young girl overcoming an abusive childhood. Growin...

All authors know that marketing and promotion are major parts of the overall success of our work. Building an Author Platform That Can Launch Anything: a Social Media Minibook by Toby Neal is an invaluable addition to any author's toolkit for book promotion.

Effective steps to building an author platform that can take advantage of free programs and launch any book into visibility and better sales.

Self published or not, today’s authors have to develop their own “platform” for reaching bo...

Robert French

When Karen invited me to do this guest post, I was really pleased because I had a great subject in mind but as I was writing away, I got an overwhelming desire to embark upon an entirely different subject, one that is a little more personal and a lot more painful.

If one reads the biographies of writers through the ages, a common theme is that many writers, especially those who may deal with darker subjects, are victims of depression. According to health.com writers are #5 in ...

by Kirkus MacGowan

Kirkus:  Kirkus MacGowan here. I’m at an undisclosed location with John Reeves. He agreed to answer a few questions for the fans of The Fall of Billy Hitchings. Keep in mind, he’s a secretive individual. My goal is to give the reader some insight into just who John Reeves is. There may be questions he can’t answer, especially those relating to his involvement in Secret Ops.

Kirkus:  I’l...

 
Michael K. Rose, Author

Do you see alien landscapes in your dreams?

Dreams, no. Daydreams, you bet! I've done a fair bit of reading on what alien worlds would look like. Did you know that for different types of stars (blue stars, red stars, etc.) plant life, if it draws energy from the sun, would most likely be colors other than green? It has to do with the wavelengths of light those plants would absorb. Now, for the purposes of my science fictional universe, which I call the Myriad Sph...

Advisory: This post contains graphic adult content.

The coolest review I've received to date for any of my books, delivered a mere two out of five stars… from an author, no less! Bar-none, it's my very favorite review of all time. In fact, I use it to sell books!  I'd take 1,000 such reviews over 1 Million reviews from 5 star fans telling me how fucking awesome I am. Ripped directly from Amazon, here's what it says:

Guest Post by Author, Scott Bury

Thanks to PJ and Karen for inviting me to write about my editing process. This is what works for me, and it has also worked for hundreds of students I taught it to when I was a college English professor.

My editing process

What’s the most erroneous myth about writers? The scene in TV shows and movies, where the writer types an opening sentence and immediately rips the page out of the typewriter, crumples it in rage and throwing it into an overflowing waste-bask...

A woman comes home after shopping, puts her toddler down for a nap, and then stretches out on the bed for a short rest. She wakes up to find a strange man in her bedroom, staring at her….

Then my muse gets up and walks out. “Hey!” I call. “Where are you going? Get back here, right now!”

“Nope.” He lifts his chin and looks away. “I’m done here.”

“But we’re at a critical part of the book.�...

By K. Wodke

 Every survivor of rape experiences the trauma in her (or his) own unique way. Some common after-effects include fear, anger, guilt, shame, loss of trust, anxiety, insomnia, and even denial. Because of the element of shame associated with rape, many victims are reluctant to report the crime and /or seek the help they need.

Like child molestation, rape is an abhorrent and aberrant behavior, one that people are expected to realize is wrong without being told. They are exp...